Christianity… The UN-Religion? Part 2

I was watching a sermon today on one of my favorite websites (www.gracewalk.org) and I heard something that continues the thoughts from yesterday’s discussion…

The word religion comes from the Latin religare which means “to tie, fasten, bind”. A positive spin in this is the idea that religion takes broken people provides the resources to set and bind them so the brokenness can heal. Kinda like a cast on a broken arm. The restriction that the cast places on movement enables the arm to heal.

So, lovers of religion will state that it serves the same pupose in a spiritual sense. That actually sounds good (and it preaches great!– people actually like to hear how they need to place restrictions on themselves because it puts them in control).

The problem is, however, that there comes a time when the binding or cast must be removed so that the person can function freely as they were designed to function. In other words, a cast is great for a broken arm, but when the arm is healed the cast must be romoved or else it will actually become a limiting hindrance.

Often times, opponents to a faith-based life will contend that “religion is a crutch.” That used to make me mad. But, as Steve McVey said in the message I watched, that’s what it is! Jesus came to remove the bonds of “religion” and set his children free to live as we were designed to live. We are healed because of what he has done through his death and resurrection. We don’t need to be bound by religion anymore. A tragic reality in the church today is that so many Chrisitans are trying so hard to be “religious”, we miss the incredible freedom and indescribable joy that Jesus has already given us.